50% of teenagers buying age-sensitive products online

Research out today has revealed that half of 15 year olds have bought age verification measures in order to prevent the issue from getting any worse. 192business offer retailers the ability to verify their customer’s age at the point of the transaction in real time to ensure they are not selling age restricted goods to minors.

Brandon Cooke from the Trading Standards Institute comments “Unfortunately these results are not a surprise. The Trading Standards Institute highlighted this issue at its conference in June and called for a ban on online knife sales if the trade could not put its own house in order. This survey shows disregard for the law with virtually no precautions being taken by the majority of online retailers to avoid selling age restricted products to minors. There is a cost to legal compliance but it is essential to prevent possible harm from weapons and violent games”

Meanwhile this type of customer age check technology is already well established in other sectors such as the online gambling industry. “UK online gambling operators take the issue of customer age verification very seriously and have all embedded age check technology into their websites. If the gambling industry can achieve this, then surely so can other ecommerce businesses”, said Clive Hawkswood, CEO at the Remote Gambling Industry.

Michelle Dixon, Age Verification Specialist at 192business, commented: “The figures show that there is still a long way to go when it comes to effective regulation in online retail. ID checks are routinely made in the face to face retail environment and the fact is that age and ID checks can just as easily be made with internet sales. As well as the serious dangers for young people, retailers stand to lose out massively if they’re caught selling age-restricted goods to underage consumers. The most immediate risks include reputational damage, a financial penalty and the possibility of enforcement action by Trading Standards teams. In any case by employing customer ID check technology retailers will get the double whammy of protecting themselves from card fraud. It’s surely a gamble that no business can afford to take as we emerge from recession.”

For more information about the reading of the Online Purchasing of Goods and Services (Age Verification) Bill, please visit http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/onlinepurchasingofgoodsandservicesageverification.html

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For further information and further details on the research please contact:

Michelle Dixon at 192business on 020 7909 2352, 07872 198 330 or michelle.dixon@192.com

*About the research among young people

The questionnaire was administered by Invenio Research to 1000 participants aged between 12 and 17 years at five different locations: Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Sheffield and London. Interviews were conducted in September 2009.

Invenio Research provides expert research services and consultancy in a wide range of legal, criminological, socio-legal and social science matters, particularly those with a high technological content. Its empirical research projects have included the impact of Chip and PIN technology on fraudulent behaviour, the rise of identity theft as organised crime, the nature and extent of e-crime, the acquisition of identity information via domestic burglary and public perceptions of dishonesty.

*About the research among parents

The questionnaire was administered by iCD Research to over 800 parents.

iCD Research is a full-service market research consultancy providing research capabilities online and offline. Our specialities include online research, qualitative and quantitative research, custom approach and actionable insights.

About www.192business.com

192business is the leading global provider of customer identity verification solutions for businesses to defend themselves against fraud, to verify customer age and to ensure compliance with money laundering regulations.

192business ID check solutions are commonly integrated into ecommerce sites to check customer identity in real transaction time so that the customer ID check process is invisible and does not interfere with the customer experience. Over 1000 companies including global brands such as Panasonic, Halfords, and PKR.com use 192business ID checking solutions to verify customer identity.

Contact: Michelle Dixon, Marketing Manager at 192business.com on 020 7909 2352, 07872 198 330 or Michelle.dixon@192.com

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